I arrived in Armenia at 2:30 am local time. Yuck – the time I mean, not the place. Haven’t seen enough to form an opinion. First impresions: I hope the people on the plane are not indicative of the Armenians in general, as they were some of the most obnoxious travelers I’ve had the misfortune to be enclosed in a small space with. The airport, at least the small part I was in, was rather impressive. Bright and shiny. I bought my visa in the terminal while the obnoxious passengers jostled in line at passport control; by the time I got in line there I was the last one left so nobody left to shove me around. They have a rather clever design, in that the only way to your luggage is through a large store. Not a bad idea, as far as promoting capitalism goes, but at 3:00 am I have to wonder how many passengers were really interested in the designer purses and booze. I, for one, was not.
Hotel is good, free internet in my room, along with a well-stocked and reasonably priced mini-bar, both of which always score big points with me.
I could hardly keep my eyes open on plane, but of course now at 4:20 am I am wide awake. Good thing I didn’t schedule any morning meetings. Might have to see what kind of sleep-aid is available from the mini-bar.
Oh, and I’m looking forward to seeing which of weather.com’s forecasts are correct. Their prognosis for the coming week: -9 Celsius, 42 Farenheit. Now I’m no math (or weather) wizard, but I do know that negative temperatures in Celsius are below freezing, i.e. less that 32 degrees Farenheit. I’m guessing they have neither math nor weather wizards at weather.com. And let me say this: it is hard to pack for the possibility of either -9 (which, by the way, is 15 degrees Farenheit) or 42 Farenheit (which, by the way, is 5.5 Celsius).
Anka in Kyiv 